PUDR would like the bail order for Binayak Sen to be applied also to his co accused . . .
From: Economic and Political Weekly, May 30 – June 05, 2009
Letters
Binayak Sen
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to Binayak Sen in the case levelled by the Chhattisgarh government that resulted in the noted civil rights activist being confined for over two years in Raipur jail on charges of sedition and participation in “unlawful activities”. It is pertinent to note, in reading out the order, the Supreme Court judge specifically commented upon the long period of incarceration for an undertrial, stating “two years is too much”, before passing the instruction “bail granted”.
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Open Letter to Raman Singh, Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh
9 June 2009 Campaign for Peace and Justice in ChhattisgarhDear Mr. Singh,
As an elected representative sworn to uphold the Constitution, we would like to ask you why you support the illegal burning of houses and property, displacement of villagers as well as the killing and rapes that have been carried out by the Salwa Judum and security forces in Dantewada district, Bastar. Now that it has been clearly established by the NHRC and accepted by your government as shown by your own affidavits to the Supreme Court that Salwa Judum is an armed organization which has burnt houses and destroyed property, how do you continue to publicly justify and praise the Salwa Judum? Is it constitutional to support a vigilante movement which has caused such destruction? Naxalite illegality does not justify state illegality.
Since October 2008 we have been waiting for your government to fulfill its promise to the Supreme Court that it would rehabilitate all villagers who had been affected and displaced by Salwa Judum and Naxalite violence. The SC had asked you to act on the NHRC recommendations to compensate and rehabilitate all victims of Salwa Judum and Naxalite violence, to ensure the safe return to their villages of all displaced persons, whether in camps, Andhra Pradesh or elsewhere, to remove security forces from schools and civilians buildings, to identify the large numbers of missing persons and freely register FIRs on complaints. At first you cited the excuse of the election code in the assembly elections for not giving compensation, even though this did not prevent you from promising rice at Rs. 3. Later, you used the excuse of the parliamentary elections to avoid replying to the Supreme Court and managed to get the hearings postponed after the monsoons, despite knowing that if people are unable to come home and cultivate during the summer, they will lose another year. For almost a whole year, you have tried to evade your responsibility to the affected people and to the Court. The affected people are among the poorest in the country. You talk of development but have no concern for those whom your own government has rendered destitute.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Open Letter to the Maoists by CPJC
9 June 2009 Campaign for Peace and Justice in ChhattisgarhMr. Ganapathy
General Secretary
CPI Maoist
Dear Mr. Ganapathy,
We are very disturbed by the abduction of Nagesh Jhari (Panchayat Secretary) and Punem Honga (Former Sarpanch) on the night of 2nd of June, 2009 which happened between the villages of Basaguda and Avapalli in Bijapur District in the State of Chhattisgarh.
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Sandeep Pandey: ‘Adivasis want to be left alone by Naxals and security forces’
The demolition of Gandhian Himanshu Kumar’s 17-year-old Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Dantewada on May 17 shocked everyone acquainted with its work in the backward tribal area of Chhattisgarh. Magsaysay Award winner Sandeep Pandey, who led an all-India fact-finding team to Dantewada, tells Jyoti Punwani what his team found:
Why was the Vanvasi Ashram demolished?
Himanshu had become an irritant for the Chhattisgarh government. He was doing a lot of development work, which is really the job of the government. In fact, the SP himself told us that they used to take Himanshu’s help on various occasions. But the ashram was also providing legal aid to the adivasis oppressed by Salwa Judum. In the last two years, Himanshu has filed 500 FIRs on their behalf. His most recent activity was to help resettle in their original villages, those adivasis who had been forcibly displaced by Salwa Judum.
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Video: Himansu Kumar about VCA Demolition
